Quantifying the Cost of Culture

Have you ever experienced that awkward feeling when two families, recently joined by a wedding, have dinner together for the first time?

Each family has its own rhythms, traditions and dynamics, and there’s a strong likelihood those idiosyncrasies won’t mesh, at least not right away. The result is a couple of hours of awkward silences and misunderstandings.

Now imagine having one of those dinners five days a week. For eight hours a day. That’s what happens when a merger or acquisition isn’t handled the right way.

I’m not talking about the finer details of the transaction itself — the contracts, financials and handshakes that make the deal a reality. Every company should have a team of M&A experts who are trained and ready to cross the Ts and dot the lowercase Js. 

What I want to focus on is how you logistically and thoughtfully weave two different teams together to work effectively and sustainably as one.